Effect of the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) on teacher burnout

Teaching is a stressful profession. Often teachers experience burnout and become emotionally and physically spent early in their careers. The level of burnout among teachers in the field of education is having a negative impact on retention, recruitment, and student achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) on symptoms of teacher burnout. Traditional Chinese medicine, which includes acupuncture, theorizes that a body's energy force needs to be balanced in order to remain healthy both physically and mentally. EFT is based on the principles of acupuncture which theoretically balances the twelve meridians of the body. A 4 week quantitative experimental pretest-posttest control group design study compared the burnout levels from a convenience sample of 126 K-12 teachers. The treatment group participated in EFT while the placebo control group practiced a forearm tapping technique for the duration of the study. Participants were assessed utilizing the three components of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI): Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment. Differences between groups were determined using a 1 tailed t test for each of the 3 components of the MBI. EFT was found to significantly decrease all 3 components of burnout. EFT is inexpensive, easy to administer, and could be added to teacher mentor and retention programs to improve teacher resiliency. A positive impact on teachers whose level of burnout is either negatively affecting the educational environment or has caused them to consider leaving the profession will help nurture and retain valuable assets for student learning.